Cholera Outbreak in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ hundred affected by mystery illness in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

From a blogger who investigated a simliar outbreak in 1959:

http://exkiap.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3480&sid=8fd12cb5381496064941a29ca9a2b1a0

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 6:22 pm Post subject: Sickness in Menyamya

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I see in todays Guria that the three medical teams that have been sent to Menyamya urgently are still at the Station waiting for helicopters to take them to outlying villages. Whatever happened to walking. I seem to remember in 1959 returning from leave and being told to leave my family at Finschaffen and proceed on patrol via Wasu to the Timbe and Uruwa Yupna census Divisions ( which would be about the most rugged country you could ever wish not to have to visit) to investigate deaths from an influenza outbreak. How times have changed Frank
_________________
Wewak Maprik Yangoru Menyamya Finschafen Bundi Saidor Bogia Gumine Okapa Lufa Goroka Daru Mendi. 1951-'74

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Here is alternate perspective on the number of deaths in Papua New Guinea from Brunei Darussalam news media. Brunei Darussalam is a sovereign nation on the island of Borneo approximately 2200 miles northwest of Morobe Province in Papua New Guinea (island of New Guinea) where the current outbreaks are occurring.

{bolding and credits to Arubi}

http://brudirect.com/index.php/2009...ing-locals.html

Sept. 4, 2009

Bandar Seri Begawan - News of the recent "mystery influenza" and dysentery outbreaks that has resulted in the deaths of at least 47 people and infected some 2,000 others in Papua New Guinea do not seem to be a cause for concern for a majority of Brunei's residents.

Steven Pang, a self-employed entrepreneur, said that he has read about the outbreaks in the newspapers but has not really thought much about it. "I just glanced through it. Was not really paying attention because it really isn't relevant to Brunei," he said.

Pang, however, said that he felt the same way about the news of the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic when it was first reported. I did not really take much notice of the early H1N1 reports either," he admitted.

"I had no idea how rapid it would spread and was certain that it will not reach Brunei, but to be honest, H1N1 was mostly hype. It wasn't nearly as dangerous as (people) first thought," he said.


In agreement with Pang was his high school classmate who declined to be named. Currently unemployed, she informed The Brunei Times that she had actually heard quite a bit about the outbreak from her parents, who themselves had only recently recovered from the H1N1 infection.

"They have had a first-hand experience of being patients so they are a bit worried, but personality I don't think that this is something to panic about, at least not yet," she said.
The 32-year-old explained that according to her knowledge, the outbreak of the mysterious illnesses happened in an isolated area and should therefore be much easier to contain.

"I am sure that the relevant authorities in the location have taken precautionary measures needed to lock down the area. It happened in a place that is far and not really accessible so I think that the chances of the disease spreading should be quite low," she said, adding that more information on the disease is needed.

"You cannot prepare for something you don't know about. For all we know, this mystery flu might not be really contagious," she said.

A majority of the people interviewed, however, revealed that they were still unaware of such reports.

Eva Ong, a university student from the United Kingdom currently back in Brunei for the holidays, said that she has not heard anything of the outbreak "I don't know anything about it but I think it is something that we should be concerned about. We have to be prepared for it," she said.

"It is always better to be safe than sorry," added Ong.
Echoing her sentiments was a 26-year-old sales representative who requested to be known as Hamirul. "Now that we have experienced what it is like to be living with H1N1, we should be more alert and prepared to face similar disease outbreaks," he said.

Hamirul said that he did not know anything about the out-break prior to this interview but felt that Brunei should monitor the situation closely.

"Right now you can fly from one end of the world to the other in just a few days so we cannot be complacent and think that we won't be affected by it," he said.

According to a news report by AFP earlier this week, 27 villagers from the Menyama District of the Morobe province in Papua New Guinea have died from the unidentified influenza since August 3, in addition to 20 other casualties caused by dysentery.

Papua New Guinea's World Health Organisation (WHO) representative, Eigil Sorensen said that the possibility of the mystery flu being swine flu could not be ruled out.

However, it would be unlikely as the outbreak occurred in a remote area.
"But the number of sick (people) and fatalities are certainly higher than normal so we take both of these outbreaks seriously," he said.

-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times <!-- / message --> <!-- sig --> __________________

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

That last article was using old data. I posted that in a seperate thread with the phrase "Old/Bad information" in the title. Those were the case counts from last weekend, when the outbreak was presumed to be caused by a "mystery flu". Note the mention that swine flu was not yet ruled out.

The original post was here:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=290743#post290743

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

This is direct from MSF. Note the case counts. 9-12 deaths, not 114.

http://www.msf.ca/news-media/news-updates/2009/09/papua-new-guinea-cholera-outbreak/

Papua New Guinea: Cholera outbreak

Published 04 September 2009




Papua New Guinea's Angau Hospital in Morobe Province is on high alert and treating people affected by an already deadly outbreak of cholera.

As of Sept. 3, 95 cases of cholera were confirmed ? including nine deaths ? in Wasu, Morobe Province. This is a relatively worrying number as the small community of Wasu has a population of about 1,500. Cholera has also spread to Lae City. Eleven suspected cases have been admitted to Angau Hospital and three patients have died. MSF is responding by assisting the Ministry of Health in setting up a cholera treatment centre in the hospital. An isolation ward has been established which includes disinfection points and footbaths. MSF?s emergency team has sent seven additional staff, including three nurses and a water and sanitation specialist, to assist in the urgent response. This is one of the first known cholera outbreaks in Papua New Guinea in the last 50 years.

Cholera is a highly contagious disease. The bacteria vibrio cholerae is excreted by an infected person in stool and vomit. It can spread directly to other people if they touch the patient and fail to wash their hands. The bacteria can also contaminate food or water supplies. In the latter case this can cause a massive outbreak because many people will ingest the bacteria in a short period of time.

A patient may require up to 10-15 litres of intravenous fluid on the first day. A person who is not treated will die of dehydration well before this. In fact, death usually occurs when 10 to 15 per cent of the total body weight is lost. In severe cases this may take only a couple of hours.

In addition to the cholera outbreak in Wasu and Lae, outbreaks of influenza A and shigella have been identified in Menyama, also in Morobe. MSF is currently assessing the situation.

MSF has worked in Papua New Guinea since 2007. MSF supports a clinic in the eastern city of Lae, the country's second largest metropolitan area. In September 2008, MSF started providing surgical care for victims of violence in the local hospital in Tari, a town in the western part of the island.

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

That last article was using old data. I posted that in a seperate thread with the phrase "Old/Bad information" in the title. Those were the case counts from last weekend, when the outbreak was presumed to be caused by a "mystery flu". Note the mention that swine flu was not yet ruled out.

The original post was here:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=290743#post290743

alert, you are correct. I reposted this article for several reasons. First, even though it is "old data", it is reported as up-to-date information in Brunei. Second and more importantly, it shows that local news sources are always the best sources for information. As news starts to be reported by media and wire services far removed from the sources of the incident (Brunei is about 220 miles form Morobe Province), the less likely these news report have any additional, accurate information that has not already been reported in the local media outlets.

 

[Vibrant62]

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

This deals well with the cholera outbreak situation. Any further information on the influenza/ dysentry problem? I cant find any mentions anywhere.

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

This deals well with the cholera outbreak situation. Any further information on the influenza/ dysentry problem? I cant find any mentions anywhere.

That article does mention that it is confirmed influenza A and shigella, but doesn't have more details than that. Most of the sources (The National newspaper, RNZI, etc.) we are using do not publish on weekends, so we will not get too much information until Monday morning PNG time, which is still over 24 hours away.

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

And the outbreak is not confined to Morobe. This article is only 5 hours old. The symptoms he describes as Cholera could just as easily be dysentery - both illnesses have similar symptoms, and both have been reported from Morobe, but the dysentery is closer to the Eastern Highlands than the Cholera is.

Also note the death toll. 200, not 400.

http://www.trupela.com/2009/09/06/cholera-in-eastern-highlands/

Browse: Home / Planti Stori long Ples / Has Cholera crossed over into the Eastern Highlands?
Has Cholera crossed over into the Eastern Highlands?
By Robert on September 6, 2009

I have good reason to suspect that Cholera has crossed over into the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Over the past month there have been close to 200 reported deaths in the remote Menyamya District of the Morobe Province from cholera-dysentery-influenza type symptoms. Menyamya (Morobe) and Obura-Womenara (Eastern Highlands) Districts share a common border and see a constant flow of people moving between these two remote areas of Papua New Guinea.

A good friend of ours – “Paisel” – hails in from the Pinji village located roughly half way between Okapa and Marawaka Stations in the Eastern Highlands. Marawaka lies almost adjacent to Menyamya, the location where the recent deaths have been reported. “Paisel” stayed with us for a few days this week and Thursday evening after dinner, he shared the story about how one of his clansmen died from what appeared to be cholera type symptoms the previous Sunday. From one day to the next his kin developed severe diahorhea and vomiting, then just dropped dead.

Considering the recent and sudden outbreak of Cholera and Influenza in the Morobe Province and the constant flow of rural people between the Morobe and Eastern Highlands borders – I took “Paisel’s” story seriously. First thing the next morning I contacted the Eastern Highland Provincial Health Services and made an appointment to see the Provincial Health Advisor – with “Paisel” – first thing Friday morning.

The meeting did eventuate and “Paisel’s” story (as recounted by him) was taken very seriously by the local Health Officials. Apparently that morning they had received a phone call from Moresby wanting an update on the outbreak situation in the Eastern Highlands as they had reasons to suspect that Cholera had already crossed over from Morobe into the Eastern Highlands. “Paisel” has since returned to his village and we will need to wait and see what action the local Health Authorities will take.




As reported recently by the Post Courier a State of Emergency has now been declared in the Morobe Province:

National Health Minister Sasa Zibe has heeded the call from Morobe Governor Luther Wenge to declare a State of Emergency in the influenza and dysentery
struck Menyamya district of Morobe Province.

Minister Zibe told the Post-Courier last night that the number of deaths reported so far was too much and was totally unacceptable, and that he did not want
any more people dying from the outbreak. Mr Zibe said it was now a national issue and he had had an emergency meeting with his departmental heads and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force yesterday in Port Moresby, and that they would be providing all the assistance necessary to combat the outbreak in Menyamya district.



And for those travelling or thinking of travelling to Papua New Guinea here’s the latest from the Australian Government’s Travel Advisory:

There is a current outbreak of cholera in the city of Lae (Morobe Province), with recent outbreaks also occurring in isolated island communities in Siassi district in the north eastern part of Morobe province. Deaths have been reported. Cholera is transmitted through water and food contaminated with the cholera organism and spreads as a result of poor hygiene. In some instances the original source of the contamination can be from the environment (e.g. shellfish). Further advice on cholera can be found on the World Health Organization website.

There is an outbreak of dysentery and seasonal influenza in the remote Menyamya district of Morobe province. Deaths have been reported.

Anyone visiting the affected areas should exercise strict hygiene precautions including careful and frequent hand washing. We advise you to drink water only from known safe sources eg bottle, chlorinated or boiled water, to avoid ice cubes and raw and undercooked food and to maintain strict hygiene standards while travelling in Papua New Guinea.



Finally, here’s a couple of relevant information pamphlets / booklets which I have uploaded and made available via the Resources section:

Cholera - FAQ (53.96 KB)Cholera outbreak WHO 2004 (272.12 KB)Worth noting (and questioning perhaps) is why WHO have not reported any news on their web page in relation to this outbreak in Papua New Guinea. The page dedicated to reporting Disease Outbreaks in this country is empty!

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://exkiap.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3481&sid=89a57d45c808abc8acc4046211c52163

Frank Martin wrote:
Whatever happened to walking.
How times have changed Frank
How's it going Frank?
I seem to recall that there is no money in the PNG Health budget; no medicine; no maintenance; no nating.
Course, if the staff have an expectation of helicopter rides to outlying areas it's little wonder; they're a bit expensive and only when there is no alternative.
By the time the Minister and his manki's have had a ride to a few outstations there's no money left.
There appears to be no Aid Post Orderlies, no Aid Posts (because they've all fallen down though lack of maintainence) so how do they expect to service outlying areas?
The answer is they don't, because it's all too hard - and straiya doesn't give us enough money.

 

[Farmer]

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

And the outbreak is not confined to Morobe. This article is only 5 hours old. The symptoms he describes as Cholera could just as easily be dysentery - both illnesses have similar symptoms, and both have been reported from Morobe, but the dysentery is closer to the Eastern Highlands than the Cholera is.
...
A good friend of ours ? ?Paisel? ? hails in from the Pinji village located roughly half way between Okapa and Marawaka Stations in the Eastern Highlands. Marawaka lies almost adjacent to Menyamya, the location where the recent deaths have been reported. ?Paisel? stayed with us for a few days this week and Thursday evening after dinner, he shared the story about how one of his clansmen died from what appeared to be cholera type symptoms the previous Sunday. From one day to the next his kin developed severe diahorhea and vomiting, then just dropped dead.

The vomiting and rapid course of illness progressing to death described here suggests cholera.

Bad news either way...

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200909/2678201.htm?desktop

WHO issue PNG cholera outbreak adviceLast Updated: 15 hours 28 minutes ago

The head of the World Health Organization in Papua New Guinea says health authorities must step up public awareness campaigns to stop an outbreak of cholera spreading in Morobe Province.

Local reports say hundreds of people have been affected by the disease in recent weeks and many have died.

WHO representative Doctor Eigil Sorensen says people must treat cholera symptoms with dehydration salts as soon as possible.

"At the same time, also communicate messages related to safe water, hand washing, hand hygiene, etc. which are critical elements related to control of cholera and these need to be scaled up significantly," he said.

"I think discussions going on with all the partners, from the government side and civil society and development partners including AusAID, to see how that can be done.

"For example, it has been discussed how can we use some of the communication channels which are used for HIV awareness to get the message out about cholera."

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

This isn't really "swine dysentery" - that is a bad term here. See post 158 for more on swine dysentery, and the "Spec" thread for my opinion of why this term was incorrectly used.

http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/437

Outbreak spreads
Source:
PISAI GUMAR in MENYAMYA
THE dysentery and flu outbreak in Menyamya in Morobe province and Kaintiba in Gulf province has spread into the Eastern Highlands province.
The disease has been described by Dr Jack Marcus of the Angau Memorial Hospital, who was in Menyamya on patrol last week, as swine dysentery.
Besides the 14 villages of Kome and Wapi LLG in Menyamya, the latest report is of one death at Wailala village in Eastern Highlands.Another Morobe station affected was Aseki.
So far, the total death toll confirmed by authorities has been put at 80.
Health authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the actual figure could be more than 177.
Five more deaths were reported yesterday but have yet to be confirmed by health workers before they can be officially recorded.
The tally of 177 deaths was brought into the station by village peace officers from Akwange, Kwaplalim, Lagai, Ikumdi, Watama, Hengiyapa, Umba, Concordia, Wawaka, Kapo, Akwanze, Katanga and Wiyama in Menyamya and Buu-angai in Kaintiba, Gulf province.
The recorded cases since the first case was reported in mid-July have 2,973 affected by flu and 356 by dysentery.
There are now a total of 3,329 sick people. Some people have suffered both sicknesses.
Most medical teams had already been dispatched to the outbreak areas by yesterday afternoon.
The other two for the villages in Gulf and Eastern Highlands provinces were waiting to be deployed by helicopter.
Bad weather yesterday had prevented their deployment.
Morobe provincial deputy health adviser Micah Yawing, who was in Menyamya since last Wednesday, said yesterday the flu was “the normal flu”.
The swine dysentery has been caused by people consuming food and water contaminated by pig excrement.
The bacteria then affected the intestines causing people to suffer diarrhoea, he said.
Mr Yawing said it was the first time that they had come across such a disease.
The flu was being treated with antibiotics and dysentery was being treated with anti-intestinal drugs, Mr Yawing said.
Right now, there is a serious case of shortage of both supplies and personnel.
Mr Yawing said he needed urgent Government and private sector help to contain the outbreak.
He has five health extension officers flown in from Lae including one from the Markham district.
If needed, he said, he would call on the neighbouring districts of Bulolo, Huon Gulf and Nawaeb for assistance.
Mr Yawing yesterday put in place a disaster management task force that included Menyamya district administrator Samson Aaron, health officers Sr Kava Somelato, who is the provincial matron, Lucy Dally, provincial STI coordinator, Lucy Mendali, Family planning and sexual health coordinator from provincial health office and Kome LLG manager Desmond Timiyaso.
He said yesterday the personnel were efficient but lacked support from the National Government.
Right now, they need to have rations for all health workers including aid post orderlies and policemen who are assisting.
He said they needed food, water, sleeping bags, torches, batteries, lamps and kerosene as well as diesel for the generators to be able to sustain their patrols.
They also need loudhailers to conduct awareness.
The workers also need to have detergents for their personal hygiene and to sanitise equipment.
Another major worrying factor for Mr Yawing is that the Menyamya health centre is below standard.
He is in a dilemma whether to shut it down or keep it open.
“The facilities are not fit for tending to the sick,” he said.
There is only one ward for all the patients.
He feared that contagious diseases could easily be spread.There are also no toilets and water supply.

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/435

15 people in Lae city down with cholera
Source:
DAISY TANIOVA PAWA
AT least 15 people within Lae city have been confirmed to be suffering from cholera and are being treated in an isolated and quarantined area in front of the Angau Memorial General Hospital.
By yesterday afternoon, four people had been treated and discharged.
Medical officer and team leader for volunteers on site Luke Wakimsep confirmed that patients had been reporting in from areas around Lae.
The volunteers are assisting the Medecins Sans Frontieres, who are in charge of treatment.
Mr Wakimsep said these patients lived within the city area.
He said the patients could have been infected through the use of contaminated water and that they lived near a river.
It is believed most of these patients are living along the banks of the Bumbu River, from West and East Taraka to Omili and Bumbu settlement.
Angau hospital is going through extreme measures to address the cholera outbreak.
Last Friday, field engineers from the Defence Force at Igam Barracks and other volunteers set up tents outside the main building of the hospital to house patients.
Pits were also dug out to deposit waste from the patients in the quarantine area.
The hospital has also given out orders to security personnel to reduce the number of persons visiting the hospital and residents of Lae have been advised to limit their visits to the hospital unless it is necessary.
Health workers have also gone around the city to create awareness.
Due to the nature of the disease, the waste that will be deposited in the pits will also be treated by chemicals that will destroy the bacteria and help contain its spread.
The bacterium, vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera, is passed on from person to person through food and water, which is contaminated by bacteria from the faeces of cholera patients.
Mr Wakimsep said the patients were being treated with oral rehydration salts and intravenous drips.
He also advised Lae residents to boil drinking water, wash hands and try to eat cooked food.
Medecins Sans Frontieres in collaboration with Angau hospital and the National Department of Health have taken up the task of addressing this outbreak.
Efforts to get information from Angau and Morobe provincial health authorities were unsuccessful.

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

And the cover of today's National has a picture of the MSF cholera treatment center (click on link), with the following caption:

http://www.thenational.com.pg/

Medical staff of Medecins Sans Frontieres and volunteers on the lawn at Angau hospital yesterday preparing the quarantine area. As at 7pm, 30 people were treated by MSF with eight confirmed with cholera. Most of these people live along the banks of the Bumbu River from West Taraka to Bumbu settlement. The river winds its way from West Taraka for about 20km through Bumbu settlement to the sea near Voco Point.

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=48928

PNG ponders state of emergency in Morobe
Posted at 01:47 on 07 September, 2009 UTC

A state of emergency is expected to be declared in Papua New Guinea this afternoon as a deadly outbreak of cholera spreads to the city of Lae in Morobe province.

The official death toll from outbreaks of cholera and influenza and dysentery in the province stands at 100, although eyewitness accounts indicate it could be more than 400.

The chief executive officer of Angau Memorial General Hospital in Lae says three people from the city have now died from cholera, and the hospital is treating 29 people with the disease.

Dr Chalau Polapoi says two cholera patients are in tents which the army has erected at the hospital.

He says they need extra staff to deal with the outbreak but this is now being handled by a central command centre.

?We still need staff, we still need some additional staff. We are discussing with the command so they will have to advise us about all those logistics.?
Dr Polapoi says they are standing by to deal with a major increase if that happens.

News Content ? Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand

 

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Re: several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

An editorial. Much of this is opinion, but it contains the first mention that the total population of Menyamya is 100,000, so the total attack rate is a little under 4%.

http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/410

Govt response disappointing
Source:
The National
ON the mid-day news on radio yesterday, the Radio Australia news said that there was a case of whooping cough in its countryside.
The report also said that emergency workers had already been placed on alert. It also went ahead to warn adults to be wary of the disease and alert authorities as soon as possible.
Medical authorities were already on stand-by to control it.
The suggestion here is that the response was quicker than the Papua New Guinea Health Department’s reaction (as opposed to response) to the outbreak of dysentery in Menyamya and cholera in Wasu.
The comparison that Australia is a developed country and can quickly implement emergency procedures is fallible.
Australia has a system in place to attend to such matters.
We do have such a system in place. But for some reason, we are not able to respond quickly to a situation.
Perhaps the Government and the authorities do not believe what they see in the press and on TV or radio.
The cholera outbreak in Wasu, Tewai-Siassi, was first reported to health authorities more than a month ago.
When the World Health Organisation heard about it, it quickly moved into the area. But the Government took its time on deciding what action to take.
In Menyamya, reports were being filed daily by a dedicated Government officer who had no means of communicating the reports to the authorities. It was by chance that while he was in a coffee mill trying to reach the authorities, a reporter from The National was there to check a business story on exports.
What Kome LLG manager Desmond Timiyaso told our reporter was heart shattering.
The report was duly filed for the next day’s edition.
The provincial health authorities in Lae understandably did not know of the situation.
But for want of official statistics and memoranda, a newspaper report should have been investigated by administrators and medical experts.
Similarly for cholera, a village councillor had raised the alarm with the same reporter.
Again the story was published. It is safe to presume that someone of some standing at Top Town or Hohola would have had the sensitivity to delve further.
It would be safe to also presume here that people just saw the reports and did nothing of it. Or in the best case scenario, they thought they should sleep over it.
Every single moment they dragged their feet, one more life was threatened with the spread of flu, dysentery or cholera.
In Menyamya alone, the population is more than 100,000.
To have a population of more than 3,000 affected is a disaster. That is 3% of the population.
In Wasu, perhaps in a population of about 3,000, more than 27 cases were admitted and at least four deaths reported. Confirmed statistics were placed under embargo.
What the media has been reporting was from the village leaders, and to some extent provincial authorities.
But what must be pointed out here is that it took a whole three weeks for the Government to respond to the situation. Is the Government insensitive?
It has failed to respond quickly to a grave situation.
We are glad for people like the Medicins Sans Frontieres and the mission health services.
Perhaps now the Government can think about speeding up the processing of work permits for the many European doctors and nurses that are applying for visas so that they can go into these rural areas and live with the people and work among them.
Right now, the people of Menyamya do not have any hospital or health centre by which to be admitted to.
Morobe deputy health adviser Micah Yawing was yesterday crying foul that he did not have a technical team and a plan.
The Menyamya hospital is in a decrepit state, severely lacking the most basic of amenities. It does not have a proper ward or a proper ablution block. Compounding that, there is no water.
The Wasu situation is the same. The health centre is rundown and there are no water facilities.
It appears there is no proper plan in place during a medical emergency. If there was a plan, or a template of a medical contingency in place, it would merely have been pulled out and then implemented.
Health Minister Sasa Zibe said “bloody useless” in reference to the primary health care system only two months ago.
He might want to check his department’s response plan to an emergency.

 

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Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

OK. We have a clarification. Swine dysentery is an actual disease, but it does not affect humans, and is not the illness in Morobe.

http://www.thepigsite.com/diseaseinfo/116/swine-dysentery

Swine dysentery (SD), is caused by a spirochaetal bacterium called Brachyspira hyodysenteriae. This organism causes a severe inflammation of the large intestine with a bloody mucous diarrhoea (i.e. dysentery).
Disease is common in pigs from 12 to 75kg but severe cases occur occasionally in sows and their sucking piglets.

SD will survive outside the pig for up to seven weeks in cold moist conditions but it dies out in two days in dry warm environments.

Spread through the herd is slow, building up in numbers as the dose rate of the causal agent builds up in the environment. Pigs that recover develop a low immunity and rarely suffer from the disease again.

The high cost of disease is associated with mortality (low), morbidity (high), depression of growth and feed conversion efficiency, and costs of continual in-feed medication.

The incubation period in field cases is normally 7 to 14 days but can be as long as 60 days. Pigs may develop a sub-clinical carrier state initially and then break down with clinical disease when put under stress or when there is a change of feed.

Symptoms
Sows
Clinical disease in sows is uncommon unless new disease appears in the herd.
Piglets
Severe acute dysentery may occur.
Sloppy light brown faeces with or without mucous or blood.
Loss of condition.
Sows become symptom less carriers.
Weaners & Growers
The first signs are:-

Sloppy diarrhoea, which stains the skin under the anus.
Initially the diarrhoea is light brown and contains jelly-like mucus and becomes watery.
Twitching of the tail.
Hollowing of the flanks with poor growth.
Partial loss of appetite.
Slight reddening of the skin.
As the disease progresses:
Blood may appear in increasing amounts turning the faeces dark and tarry.
The pig rapidly loses condition.
Becomes dehydrated.
A gaunt appearance with sunken eyes.
Sudden death sometimes occurs mainly in heavy finishers.
Causes / Contributing factors
Pigs become infected through the ingestion of infected faeces.
Spread is by carrier pigs that shed the organism in faeces for long periods.
It may enter the farm through the introduction of carrier pigs.
Mechanically in infected faeces via equipment, contaminated delivery pipe of feed vehicles, boots or birds.
It can be spread by flies, mice, birds and dogs.
Stress resulting from change of feed may precipitate.
Poor sanitation and wet pens enhance the disease.
Overcrowding.
It is a major disease in the growing pig but the breeding female can become a carrier for a long period of time and therefore acts as a potential source of infection to other pigs.
Diagnosis
This is based on the history, the clinical picture, post-mortem examinations, laboratory tests on faecal smears and the isolation and identification of S. hyodysenteriae by serological and biochemical tests and DNA analysis. Identification requires specialised procedures which are not available in every laboratory.
Post-mortem examinations show that the lesions are confined to the large bowel and sometimes the greater curvature of the stomach.

The disease has to be distinguished from colitis caused by other spirochetes, non-specific colitis, PIA and bloody gut (PHE), acute salmonella infections and heavy infections of the whip worm, trichuris.

Further Reading
Click on the links below to find out more about this disease, including treatment, management control and prevention information. The top link is the main article on this disease.
Swine Dysentery (SD)

 

[Okieman]

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

WHO alarmed as PNG disease outbreak toll passes 400

he World Health Organisation says it is extremely concerned at the rising death toll from a triple outbreak of disease in the remote north-east of Papua New Guinea. More than 400 people are now understood to have died from the outbreaks of cholera, flu and dysentery in Morobe Province, and the provincial governor, Luther Wenge, says more than 100 of those deaths are from cholera. Despite urgent calls from Mr Wenge, the government has yet to declare a state of emergency, with Health Minister Sasa Zibe saying there's not enough information to make the declaration. But it now appears the outbreaks may be spreading - with newspaper reports saying patients with cholera symptoms have been admitted to a hospital in Morobe's Sialum district.

[snip]

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/200909/s2678057.htm

 

[Roehl_JC]

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

September 7, 2009 - 2:38PM .


Eleven people have died and at least 116 people are suspected of contracting cholera in two separate outbreaks in Papua New Guinea, the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby says.

Throughout August Papua New Guinea health officials have been receiving information about a mystery illness causing havoc in the Morobe province, on PNG's northwest coast.

Late last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed Cholera was in part to blame for one of the outbreaks in the province.

Scores of other unexplained deaths are expected to be either cholera or the influenza A(H1N1) virus, commonly known as swine flu, or a particularly severe influenza, PNG Department of Health Secretary Dr Clement Malau told AAP last week...

http://www.theage.com.au/world/cholera-outbreak-kills-11-in-png-20090907-fdro.html

Comment:
IS THIS THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS HEARD THEM MENTION H1N1A/Swine Flu in relation to the 300+ deaths that were not cholera?

 

[alert]

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

Re: 177 dead, 3300+ affected by several illnesses in Papua New Guinea?s Morobe Province

September 7, 2009 - 2:38PM .


Comment:
IS THIS THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS HEARD THEM MENTION H1N1A/Swine Flu in relation to the 300+ deaths that were not cholera?

No. The early posts in this threaad assumed the other deaths were due to H1N1. Later posts indicated that they were negative for H1N1, and positive for seasonal flu and shigella. That source must just be a little behind.